


Byleth's Lesson

by Faeronthewanderer



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Female My Unit | Byleth, Gen, Martial Arts, Mentor/Protégé
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22230649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faeronthewanderer/pseuds/Faeronthewanderer
Summary: *Slight Spoilers for Black Eagles Route*Ever searching for the means to improve herself, Leonie decides to ask her "rival" about how to become stronger.
Kudos: 6





	Byleth's Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Been awhile since I've posted something here and of course it's a fight fic XD This one is a lot more chill though so I hope you enjoy nonetheless! I'm hoping to write more fluff this year and continue some fics I left off so I hope y'all will stay tuned!

**_White Clouds: Garreg Mach Monastery_ **

The battle of the Eagle and Lion was this month and the entirety of the Monastery was abuzz with excitement. The students who cared enough were well within their training regimen in preparation for the battle that would honor Faerghus’ succession from the Adrestian Empire, none more so than the Black Eagles who were well underway of their preparations for the end of the month. Byleth crossed her arms as she watched her students under going sparring matches, most of them at the least. Bernadetta had once again had locked herself up in her room, prompting new recruit Ashe to tag alongside Hubert to ensure that negotiations would go smoothly. Linhardt had made it known as the training would not benefit him in any way so Petra opted to go seek him out and ‘encourage’ the languid researcher to join the class in their training.

The ones who remained were wearing red and black training uniforms, encircling around the two current members sparring to form a mini ring.

“I know that our class can be quite rowdy, but I think this is the first time that I’ve ever seen them this excited” Byleth heard Edelgard say, watching Leonie and Caspar go at one another. The objective of the match were simple: using only your hands and feet, land a clean hit against your opponent to earn a point or counter an opponent to throw them onto the ground. The first to earn seven points or to cause a knockdown would be declared the winner. It was meant to teach accuracy for when one is fighting unarmed while out on the field. However Caspar seemed to have neglected to actually listen to the instructions as he currently chased Leonie around with wild swings.

“Damn it Caspar, this isn’t what the Professor told us to do!” Leonie whined, ducking and weaving as best as she could.

“As if a game of tag is going to help us on the field. Let’s just go wild and give it our all!” Caspar roared. Byleth smiled weakly at the energy Caspar was exuding while Edelgard sighed with exasperation.

“Goddess take me, he’s going to hurt someone before the Battle of the Eagle and Lion at this rate.” Edelgard pinched the bridge of her nose. Byleth remained silent, watching closely at the action in front of her intensified.

“Caspar has a point, we should be trying to simulate actual battle techniques if want to succeed against the other houses.” Felix added, “There’s no point in trying to soften us up during a sparring match.”

“Yes, but we don’t want to risk injury before a major battle as well.” Dorothea interjected.

As members of the group continued on the discourse of whether or not the Professor should allow more full-contact fighting, Byleth noticed that Caspar was started to slow down. His breathing started to get heavier, sweat pouring from his face as each subsequent strike grow more sluggish. Exhausting as it was to avoid Caspar for so long, Leonie found her opportunity when a wild hook whizzed by her head. Leonie quickly gripped Caspar’s arms and using Caspar’s momentum against him, threw him over her shoulder and onto the floor. The impact caused a small cloud of dust to get kicked into the air, with Byleth raising her arm to call the match in Leonie’s favor.

Byleth watched Leonie let out a deep exhale before turning to help Caspar get back to his feet. The rest of the class got to their feet and soon surrounding Leonie.

“Whew, that was fun!” Caspar exclaimed as he walked over and offered his hand to Leonie as a sign of showmanship to which she accepted. “Let’s go all out in the rematch next time!” Caspar flashed a grin, Leonie returning the sentiment with a tired smile of her own.

“Anytime, just say the word!” Leonie responded.

Caspar turned to face Byleth who, while typically near expressionless to begin with, was emanating a particularly cold glare towards the excitable student.

“And next time, follow my rules.” Byleth said coolly. The statement was enough to cause Caspar to flinch, although Byleth could only assume that the temporary sign of meekness was temporary. The professor turned to face the other students. “The next match is Ferdinand versus Felix.”

“Of course professor!” Ferdinand puffed up his chest with pride upon being called up. “This will provide me with ample opportunity to showcase my hand to hand skills to our new recruits! Come Felix, let me show you the unarmed skills of Ferdinand Von Aegir!”

Felix let out an exasperated sigh in response before turning to face Byleth.

“Is he always like this professor?”

The question was a common one regarding Ferdinand. Byleth simply gave a weak smile and nodded.

“Just don’t hurt Ferdie too bad Felix.” Dorothea requested with a sweet smile.

“I’ll make no promises.” Felix replied curtly while cracking his knuckles.

Byleth felt a tap on her shoulder and turned back to see Leonie staring at her with an expectant look.

“Sorry, can I talk to you real quick?”

Byleth nodded, “Of course. Edelgard, please look over the team for a moment.”

“Of course, professor.” The princess nodded. As Byleth started to walk away with Leonie, she could still hear the commotion from the current sparring match.

“H-hey, unhand me fiend! It is ungentlemanly to apply a submission in a striking match!” She could hear Ferdinand complain.

“Learn by doing Von Aegir, the enemy won’t go easy on you just because asked nicely.” Felix rebutted.

“Ngh! Very well, allow me to show you the fortitude of Ferdinand Von Aegir!” Ferdinand roared and the chaos continued.

Byleth and Leonie passed through the doors out of the training area, currently seeing that they were alone.

“Thank you for indulging me. I was hoping if you could give me some pointers after watching the spar?” Leonie asked, causing Byleth to raise the brow. The red-haired girl had made it plain that she had considered Byleth a rival as a result of Leonie being trained by Byleth’s father, Jeralt. For Leonie to ask Byleth for advice seemed above her and Leonie must’ve realized this as she began to turn sheepish while twiddling with her fingers.

“Yeah, I’m aware that this sounds odd to you. I still plan on beating you one day to prove that I’m better, but I’m also aware of the fact that you are still my teacher and you have way more experience than me on the field. I want to be able to take advantage of that experience and grow myself so that I can be a more worthy opponent for you!”

Byleth crossed her arms and nodded, “I understand. I believe that you should’ve went for the throw sooner in that match against Caspar. While I approve of your strategy to allow Caspar to tire himself out with his wild swings, I’ve noticed that you yourself had begun to feel exhausted from having to dodge just as much which is equally as dangerous. If you yourself do not have the stamina to dodge all the time then you will be leaving yourself open to your enemy.”

“I-I see.” Leonie pursed her lips while taking in the information.

“In your spar, I had noticed at least three different points in which you could’ve bested Caspar quickly. Had you notice and capitalize on them, you would’ve been able to down him within minutes and still have enough stamina to go after another opponent. Efficiency and precision are key to surviving against numerous foes.

“Straight-forward and practical, as expected from Jeralt’s daughter.” Leonie chuckled. “Still, it’s something that I can agree on and I appreciate the critique.”

“I’m glad you do. If only some of your more noble classmates could take to heart.” Byleth sighed. “Too many of them are stuck on the idea of chivalry, honor is a very fickle thing you put lives at stake. Knighthood isn’t all glamour and hopefully they’ll learn sooner rather than later.”

“Hopefully. Say, would you be willing to spar with me afterwards?” Leonie asked, “I’m eager to test out my skills against you after all and I want to apply my knowledge through hands-on experience.”

“Perhaps some other time. I’m afraid that I have a meeting with the other professors in regards to bandit attacks in the surrounding area. But if I’m able to then I’ll seek you out.”

Byleth noticed the slight disappointment in Leonie’s face, but her apparent “rival” shrugged it off rather quickly and gave a wry grin in return.

“I’m looking forward to that day then! Oh we should probably head back to the training area to make sure that no one broke a bone.”

“Tch, we probably should. I trust Edelgard to keep the peace, but you can never know with the class. Let’s go back.”

Leonie followed the professor back inside to rejoin with the class. The bell above soon rang to signal the end of the current period.

* * *

**_Crimson Flower_ **

Five years had passed and the Garreg Mach monastery had seen better days since Byleth was last around. Fodlan was in a period of war as the Adrestian Empire sought to reunite Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance under it’s banner once more. Rhea had disappeared in the chaos and Byleth subsequently into a coma afterwards only to reunite with Edelgard, now the official Empress along with the rest of the Black Eagles. With the renewed staff working towards rebuilding what was destroyed in the attack, Byleth decided to take a walk around the monastery. It was strange seeing everything in such disrepair for Byleth as it felt that it was only a day ago for her when things were still calm. 

Byleth soon found herself standing in front of the graves that belonged to her father Jeralt and her unnamed mother and melancholy would wash over her. Her light green hair, changed from her fusion with Sothis, floating gently in the passing wind as she also wore the garbs of the Goddess that once inhabited her mind.

“Professor..” 

Byleth’s ears twitched from the sounds of footsteps coming towards her and turned to find Leonie, now a grown adult. Jeralt’s apprentice let her hair grow in the past five years, her body now showing more muscle tone from before and even earned some scars from previous jobs as she had been working as a mercenary alongside Felix. 

“I figured this is where you would be. Had to ask around and some of the soldiers pointed me in this direction.”

“Leonie...” Byleth said quietly, smiling at her former student. “Sorry, I’m just taking it all in. Everything is a blur and it doesn’t feel real, it’s taking me some time to process all of the damage.”

“I can imagine.” Leonie stated, walking to stand close to Byleth. She offered a quick prayer to her fallen idol before continuing. “”But this is the reality of what we were dealing with for the past five years. This is our hell, all to ensure that Fodlan can prosper in the future. I don’t know if our faith in the church was blind, but Jeralt always felt that something was off with Rhea.”

Byleth hummed in acknowledgment, “The fact that everyone kept to their promise five years later and returned to Garreg Mach is still impressive. I gave my support to help Edelgard in dismantling the nobility and I still mean to do so, but I still feel rather sluggish.”

“Five years of being asleep will do that to you.” Leonie quipped, “You would need some more time to adjust moving around again before Edelgard will deploy you on any missions.”

Byleth nodded, pursing her lips as a thought crossed her mind. 

“If you aren’t too busy, I think I’ll take you on that offer for a spar from five years ago. I owe you a match after all.” Byleth said as she turned to Leonie. Her student gave a quizzical look before realization set in. 

“Gods, you still remember that?!” Leonie asked while crossing her arms. The confusion soon gave way to a smirk that bared her teeth as excitement took hold.

“Well, I can’t say wasn’t looking forward to it for the past five years. Was starting to wonder if the opportunity had passed, but it looks like I’ll get my chance after all! Although I’ve improved in the past five years so don’t think that any advantage that you might’ve had back then will work against me now!”

Byleth only gave a smile in return, “Then I hope you’ll be the one to help me shake off the rust that I have. It’s been a long time since I’ve trained so this will be a good opportunity to wake this body of mine up.”

“Then let’s meet in the training grounds in about an hour! It was thankfully one of the few places in that wasn’t too damaged from Edelgard’s attack five years ago so it didn’t take the staff long to clean it up. I know that the others will be too busy so we won’t have to worry about any bystanders.”

“Then I’ll see you in an hour.” Byleth said, Leonie waving good-bye before leaving her professor to continue her contemplation in front of Jeralt’s grave. 

An hour later and Byleth once again found herself in a place of nostalgia. Dressed in her all black martial arts uniform, hands wrapped up to avoid potential injury. She stood at the center and closed her eyes to take it all in: the wind lapping at her face, the rough earth under her feet, the sounds of the students training and with it the memories of the past all came flooding back to her. In that moment, Byleth was serene and at peace – the weight of the world and her cause seemingly fading away for a time. The coming footsteps broke Byleth from her trance. 

Byleth turned to greet Leonie once again, wore an all white variant of the uniform and had her hands similarly wrapped. 

“I apologize that it took us this long to face each other like this.” Byleth stretched her limbs in preparation of the coming match. “I should apologize in advance if I do not perform as well as I did five years ago.”

“So long as you don’t use it as an excuse for when I beat you then I’m fine with it.” Leonie teased while rolling up the sleeves of her jacket to above her forearms. “It’s been a while since I got to train in hand to hand combat anyway so we’ll both be at the same level. I’m assuming you want this to be a point-by-point sparring match similar to before? First to land seven clean hits win?”

Byleth nodded, “That would be best for now I feel. Not that I expect you to take it easy on me of course. Give me your all as you would have five years ago!” Once she finished speaking, Byleth’s eyes turned serious and she took a fighting stance with her hands raised for battle. 

Leonie smirked, “I couldn’t call myself as your rival if I coddled you. Let’s hope that you can regain your fighting instincts quickly, professor!” The red-haired woman took a stance of their own and quiet filled the area as they stared each other down. 

One short exhale and Leonie was the first to make her move. She lashed out with quick jabs to test her professor’s guard. Byleth was quick to block the jabs, but one managed to sneak it’s way through and connect to her chest. Byleth sucked in a breath of air and snapped her leg forwards to try and counter with a quick kick. 

“Too slow!” Leonie cried out and sidestepped the attack, landing two more jabs to the ribs. 

“Ngh!” Byleth grunted as she felt Leonie’s bare knuckles connected hard. Scoring three points over Byleth, Leonie looked to continue the pressure with stronger hooks. Byleth had her arms up to protect herself and found her body moving on it’s own as she was bobbing and weaving under Leonie’s punches. Managing to sway backward to avoid a wicked uppercut, Byleth caught Leonie with a front kick to the face, smashing the redhead’s nose under her sole. 

“Agh!” Leonie cried out in pain and Byleth was quick to follow up with a thrust kick to Leonie’s stomach, lifting Leonie off her feet and caused her to nearly fell to the ground face first. Leonie was quick to react however and saved herself by landing on her knee to prevent the knockdown and the automatic win. 

“You’ve certainly gotten faster and stronger. Those punches are going to leave a bruise for sure” Byleth complimented while taking a couple of steps back to give Leonie some space. “You’ve gotten a bit to ambitious with that last exchange however. Spending a bit too much time with Caspar over the last five years perhaps?”

“Tch! Taking the time to lecture me during our match are you?” Leonie clicked her tongue between her teeth while getting back to her feet. Leonie couldn’t hide her excitement however, to be able to spar with her fated rival seriously part of why Leonie kept pushing on through the years. 

“Old habits die hard I’m afraid.” Byleth answered with a small smile, “Even though you are older, you are still my student and until this war is done, I will continue to guide you with all of my strength.”

Leonie retook her fighting stance, “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that professor. For the past five years, I’ve been fighting against bandits and soldiers alike, protecting the weak from those who would take advantage of the war! Here, let me show you why I’ve already surpassed you!” 

Leonie lunged towards Byleth and the two reengaged in a dance of fists. While Byleth was initially on the defensive in the early goings of the match, Leonie was noticing that it didn’t take long for her professor to regain most of her fighting instincts. The initial oppressive assault that Byleth had to deal with in the beginning had already faded and the professor was moving as well as she did from five years ago. 

Leonie scored two more hits against Byleth, a body blow to the ribs and a knee to the abdomen. Byleth buckled slightly from the heavy attacks and Leonie caught on like a predator catching the scent of blood. 

I got her on the ropes! With this next flourish, I’ll finally surpass her! Leonie thought to herself as excitement began to bubble within her chest. Victory was at hand when a sudden jab to the chest, followed up by a palm strike to the jaw and a kick to the ribs however made Leonie rethink that thought. Stunned, Leonie tried to throw a straight punch, but was met with another kick to the face. 

Did she get faster?! Leonie’s thoughts raced in her mind. Byleth’s hands shot forward and grabbed Leonie’s jacket. The redhead suddenly found herself being thrown over Byleth’s shoulders, her back hitting the floor hard. A cloud of dust kicked up from the impact and Leonie groaned before finding herself get pinned to the ground by Byleth’s foot being planted on her chest. 

Leonie looked up and locked eyes with Byleth and for the first time in years, saw the expressionless face of Byleth, the last time having witnessed this when they fought against the Church of Seiros. Leonie was mesmerized by the sight as she took large gulps of air. With one blink of her eyes, Byleth was suddenly smiling again. 

“You’ve definitely improved Leonie. Thankfully, not enough to where I can’t teach you more tricks.” Byleth moved her foot from Leonie’s chest and offered a hand. Leonie grinned, accepting the hand and was pulled to her feet. 

“Guess I still have a lot to learn.” Leonie said while rubbing her lower back, “Wished that rust would’ve lasted for a bit longer though.”

Byleth laughed at the jest, “Sorry Leonie, but I see it as you being good enough to push me out of that period of inactivity. I will have to see how you handle a spear and bow, but I’m satisfied with knowing that you’ve been keeping up with your training while I was away. Jeralt would’ve been proud.”

Leonie sighed at the mention of her former idol, “That means a lot to hear coming from you. Of course now I’ll have to work even harder. I will surpass you professor, mark my words!”

Byleth smiled at the declaration, a part of her happy that her student hadn’t changed too much despite seeing the horrors of war. The monastery bell soon rang a beautiful melody that echoed across Garreg Mach. 

“Looks like it’s almost dinner time, let’s you and I spend some time in the sauna before going for food” Byleth said. 

“Sounds good to me, professor!” Leonie nodded and smiled.


End file.
